It appears that Sen. McCain has gone over the religious edge. In a new, exclusive inteview with Beliefnet, McCain reveals to my new colleague Dan Gilgoff - welcome Dan! - a remarkably sectarian view of America.
When John McCain ran for president in 2000 he did so as the captain of the "Straight Talk Express." He talked bluntly about his views on the economy, our nation's defense, government, and even faith. And when he did talk about faith, he had tough words for several self-appointed evangelical political leaders calling them "agents of intolerance."
His was a refreshing voice - seemingly less tempered by poll-tested language and passive aggressive asides. He said what he thought and to an American public tired of political-speak, he was attractive.
Eight years later, that John McCain is long gone. What is left is a man pandering to what he thinks the Christian conservative community wants to hear. It is as if he is trying to sound like the "agents of tolerance" he once critiqued, thinking that will cause Christian conservatives to like him. It is a sad performance.
In the interview he says he says Islam is "basically" an honorable religion. Basically? How would Sen. McCain feel is he was described as "basically" an honorable man? Or that he was "basically" faithful to his wife? I'm guessing he wouldn't be thrilled. It is a serious mistake for a man who would be leader of a government to be qualifying the integrity of another religion. Unless, that is, Sen. McCain is running for theologian-in-chief.
He says that since the country was founded "primarily on Christian principles.... personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith." This lead him to call back Dan Gilgoff and qualify the answer saying he would still vote for a Muslim if he thought they were best qualified to lead the country. I'm sorry but that smacks of the "I'm not a racist because I have a black friend" response.
That answer might not be so disturbing save for his answer about whether or not the US is a Christian nation. Yes, he responded, it is, "the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation."
The Constitution? Really? I missed that. More than 200 years of American jurisprudence has missed that as well. To say the Constitution established America as a Christian nation is very different than saying our Founders were Christians (broadly, broadly defined to include deists) or that there has been a tremendous Christian influence on our country.
In fact, the Constitution pointedly departed from the experience of many of the states which had stated Christianity as an official religion. The Constitution was notable for not establishing Christianity and for not requiring office be limited to Christians.
Sen. McCain will have a lot of explaining to do about this interview. I hope he will resurrect his "Straight Talk Express" and apologize. Perhaps he will say that he said what he mistakenly thought some people wanted to hear as opposed to what he really believed. That would be a good start.
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McCain may have overstated his case when he said that the Constitution established America as Christian, but David Kuo has also overstated his case when he claimed that 200 years of jurisprudence missed that 'fact'.
After all, though it is true that the Constitution contains numerous safeguards against any state religion, the political ideas on which it is based are _heavily_ influenced by Puritan pessimism concerning the nature of man. And that pessimism in turn was heavily influenced by Augustinianism.
Finally, though it is true (again) that there is no state religion, the _culture_ assumed and perpetuated by the Constitution really is predominantly Protestant. It is only relatively recently that various forms of materialistic secularism have taken the upper hand in Supreme Court decisions. But this may soon change, if, as so many suspect, the Chief Justice takes his marching orders from Opus Dei rather than from the Constitution;)
I never cease to be amazed at the lack of knowledge our politicians have about our "founding fathers." Most of them would not fit the definition of Christian as defined by the religious right. For example, Jefferson was an ardent Unitarian who didn't believe in the divinity of Christ; John Adams was also a Unitarian. Washington was a Deist. The idea that these products of the Enlightenment would feel the modern-day fundamentalists are their descendants is ludicrous. Most of them would be defined as very liberal Christians, if Christians at all, using today's litmus tests.
Although I am a register Democrat, I was strongly leaning towards McCain, but now -- no more. Anyone who says that the Constitution made America a Christian nation is woefully ignorant of our Constitution. I doubt any immigrant taking the test to be an American citizen would make such a gigantic blunder.
This is not a situation where he is being taken out of context, nor can we excuse him on the grounds he was talking privately only to Fundies and "humoring" them. This was a public interview for a web site that hosts all religions. I can only assume that John McCain actually believes that the Constitution made American a Christian nation.
What other fundamental Constitutional principles does John McCain ignore?
This has been a sad day -- I was really looking to McCain for leadership.
How dissapointing. In 2000, he opposed the extreme religious(so-called) right, and now, in 2008, he does nothing but betray all he stood for in 2000. To call the USA a christian country would be tantamount to saying to all the other faith traditions "you exist at our sufferance, why don't you leave." Plus calling us a Christian country ignores a vast extent of our history. Since when does slave-trading, genocide of the Native Americans, bloodthirsty expansionist warfare, and the virtual deification of money count as christian principles?
Yep, he's sold out.
ps. 'there shall be no religious test for public office'
From the constitution.
A christian nation? Is christian nation is as a christian nation does, which means that there is no such thing as a christian nation. Never has been and never will be. THis is particularly so if you pay attention to the Bible which said: "strait is the gate and narrow thew way AND FEW THERE ARE WHO FIND IT" too few, I might surmise, to make up a nation.
The religious right do not want righteousness they want secular power, and prove themselves both biblically illiterate and apostate in their endeavour.
I do regret that the name of God is blasphemed because of these people and also that some will think me a religious rightist and zionist just because I am a christian. But then I know my bible too well for any of these things
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